At about 4:05 a.m. local time (Nov. 6, 2012) an earthquake hit between Montreal and Ottawa. It was a 3.7 magnitude earthquake and could be felt across Ontario, Quebec, New York, and Vermont! The epicenter was about 85 miles northwest of Plattsburgh, NY. A lot of the responses from New York and Vermont were for subtle shakings, a 1 on a scale that goes up to 10, with 10 being the worst. Of course I didn't feel it. I was working in the newsroom at the time, trying to figure out snow totals for you all, and worked right through it.
There are pictures to the left of my text in this blog. Go ahead, click on them to enlarge them. They're mostly about another earthquake in Virginia last year, that a lot of folks up and down the east coast felt. I must add though, that all those pictures are courtesy the USGS.
Earthquakes have been more active here lately between Ontario and Quebec. This most recent one adds to the list of several since the beginning of September. This area is in the Quebec Seismic Zone, that typically gets a few of these 2.0M or greater each year. The earthquakes are felt over a much greater distance than the ones out west though.
Take that Virginia quake for example. The image to the left shows how far away that earthquake was felt compared to a comparable one in California. A landslide was also reported four times as far away as scientists thought they could be created too. Thus scientists are getting more and more information about east coast quakes and this will be valuable to the public in the future. It seems these have been more and more frequent lately in the Northeast and Canada. So keep an ear out, or eye out, or foot out for any shakings in the future. You're in a good location to feel a slight shaking, as these vibrations can travel a far distance. As for *why* these quakes are happening more often right now, I'm not too sure. That's something I'll need to look into.
-Meteorologist Steve Glazier
